Immigration is not a magic bullet for regional economic development: Sanda Kaufman

Updated May 5, 2013; Posted May 5, 2013

Danton Patterson, left, from Jamaica, and Michael Haddad, center, from Lebanon, raise their hands with other immigrants taking the oath of allegiance to the United States during the naturalization ceremony at the One World Festival at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens' Irish garden on Aug. 26.

A decade ago, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's task force on immigration approached the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University for data and analysis to help city officials explore immigration as a means of growth for the city. Based on our research, we concluded that investing public resources to attract immigrants is not a magic bullet for regional economic development. In fact, it might not be a wise use of scarce public resources on which to pin hopes for rebuilding the city. Instead, a people-focused approach to accommodating the needs of immigrants is more likely to be successful. That is because of how immigrants make their location decisions.

It is true that on the whole immigrants are entrepreneurial and contribute to their local economies. However, contrary to popular thought, job availability in a particular area does not tend to be the primary consideration for immigrants. Most are resilient and expect to adapt to whatever job opportunities they find within their new community. When they have a choice, immigrants go where they can find others like themselves who are already established -- others who share similar customs, beliefs, values and language and who might provide a safety net. In other words, chain migration is critical to successful immigrant attraction efforts. The Cleveland Clinic model (of highly skilled immigrants contributing to make it the world-class health care center that it is) has been years in the making. The number of immigrants coming to the United States for such specific high-skill jobs is a small fraction of the yearly total and would not suffice on its own to significantly reverse the population trends in declining cities.

What does this mean for Cleveland? Our relatively large foreign-born communities are not from countries currently experiencing noteworthy out-migration. Our neighbors came mostly from Eastern Europe. Cleveland does not have sizeable immigrant communities from Hispanic and Asian countries -- the ones from which immigrants are coming to America now. Therefore, Cleveland has not been attracting a significant share of the country's immigrants in the past three to four decades. Given Cleveland's current population makeup, a strategy aiming to rapidly grow immigrant communities may be an uphill battle; it will not significantly bolster the economy in the short run. As with all development efforts, do not think of immigrants as a quick fix to the city's or region's population decline. Rather, think of investing in making an open, accepting and supportive community for all newcomers -- domestic and international -- and in building a cultural foundation that will allow chain migration to build population over decades.

Since we can't afford to waste scarce public resources, we have to hope that decision makers' mental models of where immigrants choose to go match reality and are supported by data. It is important to make the best use of what we have, know what we are reasonably likely to attain, manage resources effectively and measure success in quality-of-life terms rather than just changes in population size. Taking care of our own, no matter their origin or ethnicity, is a good first step toward attracting others. Then, if and when needed immigration reform occurs, we will be better positioned to welcome any groups who want to call Cleveland home.

Sanda Kaufman is a professor and the director of the Master of Arts in Environmental Studies Program at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University.